.TH ANACRONTAB 5 2012-11-22 "cronie" "File Formats"
.SH NAME
/etc/anacrontab \- configuration file for Anacron
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I /etc/anacrontab
configuration file describes the jobs controlled by
.BR anacron (8).
It can contain three types of lines: job-description lines, environment
assignments, or empty lines.
.PP
Job-description lines can have the following format:
.PP
   period in days   delay in minutes   job-identifier   command
.PP
The
.I period in days
variable specifies the frequency of execution of a job in days.  This
variable can be represented by an integer or a macro (@daily, @weekly,
@monthly), where @daily denotes the same value as the integer 1, @weekly
the same as 7, and @monthly specifies that the job is run once a month,
independent on the length of the month.
.PP
The
.I delay in minutes
variable specifies the number of minutes anacron waits, if necessary,
before executing a job.  This variable is represented by an integer where
0 means no delay.
.PP
The
.I job-identifier
variable specifies a unique name of a job which is used in the log files.
.PP
The
.I command
variable specifies the command to execute.  The command can either be a
command such as
.B ls /proc >> /tmp/proc
or a command to execute a custom script.
.PP
Environment assignment lines can have the following format:
.PP
   VAR=VALUE
.PP
Any spaces around
.I VAR
are removed.  No spaces around
.I VALUE
are allowed (unless you want them to be part of the value).  The
specified assignment takes effect from the next line until the end of the
file, or to the next assignment of the same variable.
.PP
The
.I START_HOURS_RANGE
variable defines an interval (in hours) when scheduled jobs can be run.
In case this time interval is missed, for example, due to a power down,
then scheduled jobs are not executed that day.
.PP
The
.I RANDOM_DELAY
variable denotes the maximum number of minutes that will be added to the
delay in minutes variable which is specified for each job.  A
.I RANDOM_DELAY
set to 12 would therefore add, randomly, between 0 and 12 minutes to the
delay in minutes for each job in that particular anacrontab.  When set to
0, no random delay is added.
.PP
If 
.I MAILTO
is defined (and non-empty), mail is sent to the specified address,
otherwise, system user is used.
.PP
If
.I MAILFROM
is defined (and non-empty), it is used as the envelope sender address,
otherwise, system user is used.
.PP 
(Note: Both 
.I MAILFROM
and 
.I MAILTO 
variables are expanded, so setting them as in the following example works as expected: MAILFROM=cron-$USER@cron.com ($USER is replaced by the system user) ) 
.PP
If
.I NO_MAIL_OUTPUT
is defined (and non-empty), the standard output and error descriptors of job processes are not redirected and e-mailed.
.PP
.PP
Empty lines are either blank lines, line containing white spaces only, or
lines with white spaces followed by a '#' followed by an arbitrary
comment.
.PP
You can continue a line onto the next line by adding a '\\' at the end of it.
.PP
In case you want to disable Anacron, add a line with
.I 0anacron
which is the name of the script running the Anacron into the
.I /etc/cron.hourly/jobs.deny
file.
.SH EXAMPLE
This example shows how to set up an Anacron job similar in functionality to
.I /etc/crontab
which starts all regular jobs
between 6:00 and 8:00
.I only.
A
.I RANDOM_DELAY
which can be 30 minutes at the most is specified.  Jobs will run
serialized in a queue where each job is started only after the previous
one is finished.
.PP
.nf
# environment variables
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
RANDOM_DELAY=30
# Anacron jobs will start between 6am and 8am.
START_HOURS_RANGE=6-8
# delay will be 5 minutes + RANDOM_DELAY for cron.daily
1		5	cron.daily		nice run-parts /etc/cron.daily
7		0	cron.weekly		nice run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
@monthly	0	cron.monthly		nice run-parts /etc/cron.monthly
.fi
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR anacron (8),
.BR crontab (1)
.PP
The Anacron
.I README
file.
.SH AUTHOR
.MT itzur@\:actcom.\:co.\:il
Itai Tzur
.ME
.PP
Currently maintained by
.MT pasc@\:(debian.\:org|\:redellipse.\:net)
Pascal Hakim
.ME .
.PP
For Fedora, maintained by
.MT mmaslano@redhat.com
Marcela Mašláňová
.ME .
